West Coast Invitational: The West Coast Conference doesn't have a conference championship meet, so the WCC coaches improvised.

That explains Saturday's West Coast Invitational, which begins at noon Saturday at Willamette University.

It's distance-oriented, which fits the WCC profile, although the meet is administered by Willamette and open to athletes and schools outside the WCC. It will include some field events.

"It's more of a Stanford-style meet," said University of Portland men's coach Rob Conner, which means the distance races will be paced and geared toward getting entries the fastest times possible.

BYU is a member of the WCC now, which should help the depth and quality of the distance fields.

UP steepler Jared Bassett, meanwhile, has a developing national profile. Bassett finished second to post-collegian Max King at last week's Oregon Twilight in 8 minutes, 47.09 seconds, fourth on the UP career list and 13th on the college level this season.

"I'm super excited about Bassett, and he has a lot more room to go," Conner said. "He's not been a great hurdler. So we've been working on some faster stuff over the hurdles, and it's paying off."